Chicago_Youth_For_Christ_Camp

Bourbonnais, IL

Chicago_Youth_For_Christ_Camp_Group

Director

Rick Selk

info@spyfc.org

Phone

(815) 935-2020

Youth For Christ Chicago is a chapter of Youth for Christ USA working together to reach Kankakee and Iroquois Counties, Northwest Indiana, and the greater Chicago area. Our mission is to reach every kid everywhere within our region with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ.

Ministries in Chicago Area

Campus Life

YFC Campus Life: Developing a solid foundation for life through Jesus

We totally get it. Middle and high school is a roller coaster. It is the best of times and the worst of times filled with pivotal moments. We know how a pivotal moment can shape a story, because we’ve been through them ourselves. We also know that young people experiencing pivotal moments often feel over-looked and under-served, walking through their story without someone in their corner.

Campus Life leaders build relationships with young people to introduce them to Christ. We seek to cultivate great moments of connection and community for young people. Through a holistic approach Campus Life helps students as they wrestle with critical issues. Leaders help young people realize a Christ-centered life that provides balance mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially. 

We are committed to coming alongside young people and meeting them where they are. We seek to help young people navigate the pivotal years of middle and high school, uncovering God’s story of hope in their lives.

Campus Life Story

Campus Life Military

Over 430,000 military-connected youth live all over the world.

Campus Life Military leaders seek to connect with military-connected youth through genuine, Christ-sharing relationships. These young people often feel overlooked, and it’s our passion to make them feel seen, heard, and valued.

Military-connected youth proudly serve their country and live all over the world. On average they move 7-9 times before graduating high school. On top of military deployments and finding new friends every time they move, they deal with normal teenage issues. While searching for identity and purpose, they are thrown into a world of struggles, including issues surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity, substance abuse, academic struggles, family brokenness, violence, and divorce. In the midst of these challenges, they also face separation from parents due to military deployments.

Campus Life Military leaders offer young people a steady voice and reliable presence. Leaders are intentionally postured as humble, authentic mentors. They strive to create fun, safe spaces where every teenager can experience Jesus Christ and grow in faith. Common activities at Campus Life Military include small groups, large gatherings, trips, camps, and service projects.

City Life

City Life is a relational, holistic, community-based ministry aimed at serving under-resourced neighborhoods through developing young people from that community to emerging leaders who lead where they live.

Young people from these communities are less likely to meet Jesus through traditional outreach models. Most face significant challenges including violence, homelessness, fatherlessness, abuse, neglect, addiction, among many others. Our aim is to be a steady voice and presence in the lives of these young people and their communities, intentionally posturing ourselves as caring and attentive mentors.

As leaders, we help young people realize their worth as we actively listen to, learn from, and walk alongside them as they uncover God’s story of hope in their lives. We dream that they will know Jesus and make a positive impact in the communities they reside in.

Deaf Teen Quest

YFC Deaf Teen Quest teams build Christ-centered relationships with deaf and hard of hearing students. Teams of caring adults enter the world of deaf teenagers as they face pivotal moments in life.

Building life-changing relationships with deaf and hard of hearing students, caring mentors enter the world of deaf and hard of hearing teenagers with fun, friendship, community and faith. YFC Deaf Teen Quest provides a healthy peer group environment with Christian role models helping deaf teens uncover God’s story of hope in their lives and develop a meaningful faith that makes a positive difference in the world.

Juvenile Justice Ministry

On any given year in the US there are over 740,000 teens referred to the juvenile justice system, some of whom will be confined to a corrections facility, others who will be diverted into a community-based alternative, and many who will be court sanctioned to probation. The sad fact is that, for our young people who are actively incarcerated, a detention center may be the only place they feel safe, have reliable meals, are sober, or are not facing constant trauma. For our justice involved young people who continue to stay in their communities, many continue to face adverse experiences such as relational trauma, racial trauma, community violence, and lack of access to basic needs. It is during these moments of crisis that our justice involved young people are most open to uncovering God’s story of hope in their lives.

Juvenile Justice Ministry exists to create a faith-based continuity of care model geared toward fostering holistic connection and secure relationship with young people during any point of contact with the juvenile justice system. Our strategy is to come alongside young people in what it means to journey with Jesus; balancing the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of life. We build relationships that are sustained through ongoing involvement as young people navigate the different pillars encompassing the juvenile justice system: Community, Courts, and Corrections.

Parent Life

Expectant and parenting teens are often juggling school, home life, relationships, and the stress of a new pregnancy or baby. It’s our passion to make them feel seen, heard, and valued. Our aim is to be a steady voice and presence in their lives, intentionally posturing ourselves as a supportive and empathetic mentor.

Parent Life seeks to connect with expectant and parenting teens and their children through intentional relationships with caring adults and community partnerships. Our aim is to empower teens to thrive in every aspect of life and to encourage them to further their education and move toward becoming life-long followers of Jesus Christ.

Through relational, holistic ministry, our hope is to see young people thrive physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. And our strategy is to facilitate life-giving mentoring by coming alongside young parents in their pivotal moments and inspiring them by uncovering God’s story of hope in their lives.

YFC Camp

YFC Camp

Where Everything Changes®

YFC Camp creates outdoor environments where God transforms the lives of young people. Throughout the camp experience, young people experience authentic relationships and life-changing moments. Shared experiences, outdoor challenges, and times of solitude, create opportunities for campers to encounter Jesus.

At our camps, we actively pursue 11-19 year olds who are walking through pivotal and story-shaping moments. YFC Camp creates space where young people, who often feel overlooked, can feel seen, heard, and valued.

Ultimately, our vision is to provide an excellent experience through which Jesus Christ would forever alter the life of every person who comes to camp – that they, in turn would be driven to alter the lives of those around them for Christ.

YFC Core®

Young people helping young people uncover God’s story of hope

YFC Core® mobilizes students to reach other young people in their schools, communities, and in other spheres of life. We believe every 11-19 year old should have the opportunity to uncover God’s story of hope in their lives. This is realized through meaningful discipling relationships grounded in biblical community.

Providing an ideal platform for adults to serve as humble and authentic mentors, YFC Core® empowers young people to walk alongside friends, providing a steady voice and presence. YFC Core® is about unleashing teams of students who naturally invite friends to discover Jesus. These teams of students meet weekly with adult coaches to share, pray and discover how God is challenging them to invite their friends to walk with them towards Christ.